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My older sibling and I both grew up in a single-parent household. Since we were tight on money, my sister decided to go to community college after high school i

My older sibling and I both grew up in a single-parent household. Since we were tight on money, my sister decided to go to community college after high school in part to look after me while our parent worked. After two years, my sibling transferred with a full ride to a good university. Looking to my sibling's experience, I decided to leave high school when I turned 16 to attend community college and accrue transfer credits. 2.5 years later, I transferred to a good university and graduated earlier than my high school peers, saving tens of thousands of dollars. I had a blast during this time, as it really helped shape my most formative years of development, especially being exposed to so many diverse groups (as you would expect at a community college). Now my other younger family members are looking to my experiences and deciding for themselves if the last two years of high school or first two years of university education are important to them. Now they are taking the community college route to save money, and they seem to understand that they can still derive meaningful experiences and relationships.

maxerickson 8y ago
Having a year (or more) of college credits upon high school graduation should be one of the education tracks available to every student. It's a massive failure of imagination that this isn't already the case.
- gscott 8y ago
  The local 2 year college nearby created a Charter High School for grades 11-12 where there High School students take college classes to count for both college and high school. It was good for my son who graduated a few years ago. More 2 year colleges might have similar programs I am not sure http://middlecollege.guhsd.net/ http://middlecollege.guhsd.net/
  - akhilcacharya 8y ago
    I did that in high school instead of going to my state's elite public boarding school and transferred 66 credits into my state school. In retrospect it was a huge mistake, my outcomes since pale in comparison to the folks that graduated from the elite school (though it's possible the same would have happened).
- wil421 8y ago
  Why should you have to get credits before you leave High School? Just teach more advanced subjects in both High School and College. I agree with what you are saying but I think it’s a product of a failure somewhere else in the education system. No child left behind and other programs hinder education by applying one size fits all policies.
  - maxerickson 8y ago
    I didn't say that. I said it should be available to every student, which is not the case. It's directly a failure of the primary education system, but it is more a failure of leadership and resources than anything else. As far as NCLB, the response to it is a bigger problem than the law. There's nothing in it stopping states from investing in both helping underachieving students and in helping other students get ahead. NCLB didn't tell Oklahoma to slash taxes and burn their schools.
    - skookumchuck 8y ago
      > a failure of leadership and resources Why is it more expensive to teach, say, calculus than algebra? Offering more advanced classes should not cost more.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
      - chrisseaton 8y ago
        > Why is it more expensive to teach, say, calculus than algebra? Because educating someone to teach more advanced subjects takes more times and resources.
        skookumchuck 8y ago
        But the teachers have masters degrees. Besides, teaching college freshman calculus is not exactly magneto hydrodynamics.
- oculusthrift 8y ago
  This is essentially what AP classes are, is it not. If you go to a decent high school and take a good amount of AP’s it will keep you busy and challenged.
  - dhimes 8y ago
    I think AP is slower- like 1/2 speed. But some high schools have partnerships with the CCs to get 1-1 college credit in high school.
    - gowld 8y ago
      AP is slower because high school students take 7 courses/semester and college students take 4. If you take 7 year-long AP courses, the full courseload is about the same. Also, colleges often have 1 and 2 semester versions of the same material, to suit varying student needs.
  - iopuy 8y ago
    Of AP, IB and dual enrollment AP is by far the worst option. There is a cumulative test at the end of the year where if you do not score high enough you won't receive college credit where as IB and dual enrollment focus on the content of the course throughout the semester to.award credit (and sometimes a cumulative project). Aced your AP class but perform poorly on the test, no credit for you!!! Also the tests cost hundreds of dollars extra. You might ask what does "not scoring high enough entail"? The answer is it is arbitrary. The test is scored 1-5 with 5 being highest and schools pick a range of 3-5 to award credit.
    - Consultant32452 8y ago
      One benefit of AP is that you can take the test even if you haven't taken the class. So if you're motivated and can travel to some place where the test is being offered, you can rock out a shit ton of credits.
      - sudosteph 8y ago
- epage 8y ago
  I've seen this in some cities and love it. I unfortunately had a district that was targeted at the lowest common denominator. My high school would only consider accepting community college credits if you were in danger of not graduating. I was a dual-enrollment student (HS+CC) and took Calc 1-3 + DiffEq, Kinetics, E&M, and more while still taking the filler courses at my high school.
- bsder 8y ago
  It's called Advanced Placement. You can rack up quite a lot of credits with AP courses. As an engineer, I wiped out all my English requirements (6 credits). I wiped out Chemistry (6 credits and a really annoying lab at 4 credits). And I wiped out my first Calc class (4 credits). I think I killed a foreign language requirement, too (probably 6 credits). That's 30 credits--or, a full year. The big problem was that I was feeding into engineering which really doesn't let you wipe a lot out--knocking off Chemistry was a big deal (I also had an AP History score which didn't do anything for me, for example). Generally, all your good science scores just let you switch to a "more researchy" track where you take "deeper theoretical" (read: a shitton more work) classes.

maxerickson 8y ago

Having a year (or more) of college credits upon high school graduation should be one of the education tracks available to every student. It's a massive failure of imagination that this isn't already the case.

gscott 8y ago
The local 2 year college nearby created a Charter High School for grades 11-12 where there High School students take college classes to count for both college and high school. It was good for my son who graduated a few years ago. More 2 year colleges might have similar programs I am not sure http://middlecollege.guhsd.net/ http://middlecollege.guhsd.net/
- akhilcacharya 8y ago
  I did that in high school instead of going to my state's elite public boarding school and transferred 66 credits into my state school. In retrospect it was a huge mistake, my outcomes since pale in comparison to the folks that graduated from the elite school (though it's possible the same would have happened).
wil421 8y ago
Why should you have to get credits before you leave High School? Just teach more advanced subjects in both High School and College. I agree with what you are saying but I think it’s a product of a failure somewhere else in the education system. No child left behind and other programs hinder education by applying one size fits all policies.
- maxerickson 8y ago
  I didn't say that. I said it should be available to every student, which is not the case. It's directly a failure of the primary education system, but it is more a failure of leadership and resources than anything else. As far as NCLB, the response to it is a bigger problem than the law. There's nothing in it stopping states from investing in both helping underachieving students and in helping other students get ahead. NCLB didn't tell Oklahoma to slash taxes and burn their schools.
  - skookumchuck 8y ago
    > a failure of leadership and resources Why is it more expensive to teach, say, calculus than algebra? Offering more advanced classes should not cost more.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - chrisseaton 8y ago
      > Why is it more expensive to teach, say, calculus than algebra? Because educating someone to teach more advanced subjects takes more times and resources.
      - skookumchuck 8y ago
        But the teachers have masters degrees. Besides, teaching college freshman calculus is not exactly magneto hydrodynamics.
oculusthrift 8y ago
This is essentially what AP classes are, is it not. If you go to a decent high school and take a good amount of AP’s it will keep you busy and challenged.
- dhimes 8y ago
  I think AP is slower- like 1/2 speed. But some high schools have partnerships with the CCs to get 1-1 college credit in high school.
  - gowld 8y ago
    AP is slower because high school students take 7 courses/semester and college students take 4. If you take 7 year-long AP courses, the full courseload is about the same. Also, colleges often have 1 and 2 semester versions of the same material, to suit varying student needs.
- iopuy 8y ago
  Of AP, IB and dual enrollment AP is by far the worst option. There is a cumulative test at the end of the year where if you do not score high enough you won't receive college credit where as IB and dual enrollment focus on the content of the course throughout the semester to.award credit (and sometimes a cumulative project). Aced your AP class but perform poorly on the test, no credit for you!!! Also the tests cost hundreds of dollars extra. You might ask what does "not scoring high enough entail"? The answer is it is arbitrary. The test is scored 1-5 with 5 being highest and schools pick a range of 3-5 to award credit.
  - Consultant32452 8y ago
    One benefit of AP is that you can take the test even if you haven't taken the class. So if you're motivated and can travel to some place where the test is being offered, you can rock out a shit ton of credits.
    - sudosteph 8y ago
epage 8y ago
I've seen this in some cities and love it. I unfortunately had a district that was targeted at the lowest common denominator. My high school would only consider accepting community college credits if you were in danger of not graduating. I was a dual-enrollment student (HS+CC) and took Calc 1-3 + DiffEq, Kinetics, E&M, and more while still taking the filler courses at my high school.
bsder 8y ago
It's called Advanced Placement. You can rack up quite a lot of credits with AP courses. As an engineer, I wiped out all my English requirements (6 credits). I wiped out Chemistry (6 credits and a really annoying lab at 4 credits). And I wiped out my first Calc class (4 credits). I think I killed a foreign language requirement, too (probably 6 credits). That's 30 credits--or, a full year. The big problem was that I was feeding into engineering which really doesn't let you wipe a lot out--knocking off Chemistry was a big deal (I also had an AP History score which didn't do anything for me, for example). Generally, all your good science scores just let you switch to a "more researchy" track where you take "deeper theoretical" (read: a shitton more work) classes.